My Feet Will No Longer Suffer For Style

I have about a seven block walk from the bus to work every morning. During those seven blocks, I’m usually craving caffeine so badly I’m blind to the world, but on the periodic occasions when my need for coffee isn’t all consuming, I tend to look around at what people are wearing. And you know what I’m noticing? Chicks are walking around in f*cking uncomfortable shoes.

For every pair of sensible sneaks, there are mile high heels, wobbly wedges, pointy-toed witch shoes, flatter than flat flats, and gladiator sandals that eat up half a person’s leg. And you know what? Because I’m a woman and have worn things like this in the past, I can guarantee that 87.9% of the shoes I see every day ARE NOT COMFORTABLE.

Thin-heeled pumps and tall wedges are pretty, and some are even acceptable to teeter around in for an hour or so, but spending an entire day is shoes like that – not to mention walking the streets of New York City – does nothing for us except propagate the idea that for a woman to be considered “put together”, she needs to be in fancy (read: hurty) shoes.

My girl Leora Tanenbaum literally feels my pain, and recently wrote a kick-ass article on The Huffington Post about how shoving ourselves into footwear that f*cks with our feet is pretty much one of the stupidest things we as women do:

“Ladies, please forgive me: I don’t enjoy being the messenger of depressing news. But you should be aware that your most fashionable shoes, no matter how chic and status-laden, harm your feet. They have cramped toe boxes, inadequate arch support, and force you to hobble rather than stride. I’ve never met anyone not horrified by Chinese foot-binding, in which girls’ toes were deliberately broken. Yet we jam our own toes into shoes with barely enough room for a kitten’s paw, leading to potential serious injury.”

After realizing that her choice of footwear exacerbated her newly formed bunions (and letting the world know that “poorly fitting shoes also may lead to hammertoes, corns (thickened skin), neuroma (when two bones rub together and pinch a nerve), and plantar fasciitis (heel pain)”), Leora decided to spend most of her time in comfy, rather than couture, shoes.

“Don’t let ill-fitting shoes cut off the circulation of blood to your brain” Leora advises, and I totally agree. After falling to the ground like a total moron in tiny high heels a few times last year, I have almost completely given up fancy schmancy shoes for cute and comfortable. I say almost because I do occasionally wear hot shoes, but only if I’m positive I will not be walking far, and have friends to lean on should I stumble.

Is anyone else out there with me? Who else wants to say goodbye to sh*tily uncomfortable shoes forever?